The United States Justice Department has announced that it has reached a civil settlement with British Petroleum over the 2010 Deepwater Horizons oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to the tune of a record-shattering $20 billion. According to a report from the Washington Post, the Justice Department wanted to make sure that the London-based oil company was held accountable for the spill.

According to U.S. Coast Guard commandant Admiral Paul Zukunft, the penalty sends a message that those who pollute the environment will be held accountable to the highest degree of the law.

The breakdown of the settlement is as follows; $8.1 billion will go to repairing damages to natural resources caused by the spill, which includes the $1 billion that the company agreed to pay earlier. $5.5 billion with additional interest will be paid in violation of the Clean Water Act, and $5.9 billion will be paid to state and local governments over separate claims related to the spill.

The settlement will not include the $4 billion that BP agreed to pay to settle criminal charges related to the spill, nor does it include the money the company has spent on cleanup efforts so far.

The DOJ settlement also includes $700 million for addressing future natural resource issues. The oil released by the well in the middle of the Gulf five years ago has finally reached the shore, creating a massive mat of tar on top of the water.